Where did Obama come up with this crazy shit?
Obama’s statement yesterday about Republican scare tactics is merely the latest in a string of statements in which he suggests that certain Americans are intrinsically racist, and those Americans aren’t just confined to political opponents.
Some Americans are…racist? Not just Republicans? Why that’s…that’s preposterous! [audible hrumphs from around the room] Historical fact: The last of the American racists (I believe it was Jesse Helms) died in July, pushing America from 99.9999999999% to 100% pure non-racist. We’re whiter cleaner than Ivory-fncking-soap now.
But seriously, you know what I find particularly charming: the racists who don’t really try to hide their racism (depending on the n***r jokes in question and their immediate company), but who insist that racism doesn’t exist anymore and get offended when someone suggests that it’s still out there. This indignant reaction is not necessarily limited to when someone accuses them, personally, of racism mind you. They tend to bristle even when general statements are made to that effect that racists still, you know, exist.
Anyway, it’s a lovely little two step of self-awareness/self-parody. Roy has more.
Update: Just to illustrate a point, could you imagine the succession of exploding heads around pundit-dom if someone reacted with such incredulity to a candidate’s suggestion that some Americans are actually anti-Semitic? Hell, for some groups, pretending that anti-Semitism lurks behind every corner is the go-to cudgel with which to beat the brows of political opponents.
But racism? Nah. That ended sometime around 1968.
July 31, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Racist people like to be told they’re not racist people and that THOSE people are CALLING them racist people. It’s the title of my new E.P.
July 31, 2008 at 3:36 pm
[audible hrumphs from around the room]
I didn’t get a harrumph from that guy…
Give the Governer a harrumph!
Harrumph!
July 31, 2008 at 6:13 pm
The 3 flavors of racists:
1) “I’m not racist but _____.”
2) “I don’t like blacks because 10 years ago a black man/woman did something to my cousin/aunt/sister/mother and I just can’t get over it.”
3) “They’re all a bunch of _____.”
If anyone knows the 53 Baskin Robbins flavors of racists, I’d love to see the menu.
July 31, 2008 at 6:17 pm
I’m sure that’s why McCain has gathered the Hands ad team and most of the Harold ad team and the Willie Horton ad team around him – because he’s personally convinced that racism is a dead issue.
Presumably it was dragged behind a pickup truck.
August 1, 2008 at 4:35 am
Every racist I know admit that they’re racist. They don’t try to hide it and they’re not ashamed of it.
August 1, 2008 at 7:31 am
I, myself, have heard someone (a Long Island landlord) say “I’m not a racist, but I would never rent to one of those people.” In fact, in my experience, “I’m no racist, but…” is pretty much the opener for any expression of bigotry.
August 1, 2008 at 7:33 am
As someone who teaches Native American courses and courses on race and ethnicity in the west, I can pretty much guarantee you that the phrase “I am not a racist, but” is proof that they are in fact a racist. And it is really, really common.
August 1, 2008 at 8:18 am
Merl, you have the good fortune of knowing only introspective, self-aware racists that are not afraid of what they are.
Count yourself amongst the lucky few.
August 1, 2008 at 8:49 am
Vachon,
You forgot one:
4) (said to an African-American who lives/works/prays in a predominantly white environment) “I know this doesn’t apply to you — you aren’t like those people — but some Black people [...]”
Of course, then there’s comments that would be used by some white people to claim that Black people are racist too, although I’d argue they merely reflect our society’s continued segregation:
(to my Jewish, African-American wife … by an African-American coworker who evidently didn’t realize that my wife is Jewish) “why would you want to live in [My Wife's Neighborhood]? It’s full of Jewish people”
(said to me by a someone of Caribbean origins dropping me off at the train station on her way to visit friends in the Bronx): “how would you know anyone who lives in the Bronx? — you’re white … oh, sorry … I forgot, your wife is Black”
August 1, 2008 at 8:52 am
At least at my wife’s (and, as soon as I move back up north, my) shul the people “who insist that racism doesn’t exist anymore and get offended when someone suggests that it’s still out there” are the same people who believe “that anti-Semitism lurks behind every corner” as well as use it as “the go-to cudgel with which to beat the brows of political opponents”.
August 1, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Racism has definitely moved underground instead of being out in the open like in the first half of the 21st century. The media likes to tell us that racism is a thing of the past–e.g. the movie Remember the Titans invokes a sense of finality to the racism saga that football players faced. In a way, it’s false. The school in that movie is still plagued with poverty and racism today despite the football success story of the past.
Anyways, some of the people, the media and the government are far too optimistic about race relations. There is a reason why many minorities are still skeptical about all these sure signs of solidarity and respect.
It’s easy for people to think racism is over and then say something implicitly racist without being aware of it. That’s because they have come to associate racism with only the most direct actions of hate–lynching, hate crimes, etc.
August 1, 2008 at 2:32 pm
At least at my wife’s (and, as soon as I move back up north, my) shul the people “who insist that racism doesn’t exist anymore and get offended when someone suggests that it’s still out there”
I wonder how these people (ehem) would react to the notion of “crypto-racists”. The analogy with crypto-jews could be a teaching moment. Or not.
August 1, 2008 at 6:20 pm
I think one of the phrases is:
“You think you (black/gay/female/Jewish/Mexican/Asian/Indian)people have it bad, you should be (black/gay/female/Jewish/Mexican/Asian/Indian)!”
Bonus bragging points for being more than one of the above selections.
August 1, 2008 at 6:36 pm
4) “Head circumference blah blah Phillipe Rushton blah penis size Bell Curve blah blah don’t look at me, I readily acknowledge that Asians are genetically superior to such as myself.”
August 1, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Dear curv3ball and anyone else who self-censors:
Please just type the word nigger? We all know what you meant to type. Why hide it? Of course it’s a offensive term, but what does a “*” do to reinforce your point. The word nigger is the word nigger, if you’re gonna talk about or reference it, have the balls to accurately express it.
Jesus Fuckin’ Christ and the Holy Orgy!
August 1, 2008 at 11:35 pm
It’s a similar phenomenon to Holocaust-deniers who can’t seem to make up their minds about whether the Holocaust was a) a big fat Jewish hoax designed to discredit fascism, or b) Adolf Hitler’s greatest achievement, of which right-thinking white men should be proud.
August 2, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Dear curv3ball and anyone else who self-censors:
Once upon a time I had a blog post entitled “We reserve the right to bomb niggers”.
The basis was from David Lloyd George’s diaries where he lamented that “At Geneva other countries would have agreed not to use aeroplanes for bombing purposes, but we insisted on reserving the right, as D. puts it, to bomb niggers!”
I had some Iraq war fans flame me for being the “real racist” for quoting bad words without acting like a five-year old and using asterisks. The thing is though *maybe* there is someone out there who would have agreed with you without the distraction of discussing the correct way to put characters together to make a racial slut.
I guess that would apply to swearing to but fuck that, life is too short.
August 2, 2008 at 4:24 pm
I like the variety of racist who insists that he’s obviously not racist, because he’s against affirmative action you see. I find that they are very helpful in explaining who THE REAL RACISTS are.
Oddly enough, THE REAL RACISTS are almost always black people, and white people who frequently associate with black people.
August 2, 2008 at 4:25 pm
jake fate,
What an odd thing to get worked up about.
I think it’s polite to say “darn” and “shoot” when someone’s granny is in the room.
August 2, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Every racist I know admit that they’re racist. They don’t try to hide it and they’re not ashamed of it.
I knew a guy who became a nazi skinhead. After offering me “humorous” manual for upkeep on black slaves told he wasn’t a racist. He just wanted to preserve his culture and heritage. He wasn’t a racist, because racists want to exterminate other races and he just didn’t want to live with them.
As a matter of fact the *only* people I’ve ever heard self-identify as racists are people who (rightly) submit that if you are raised in this culture you are going to make stupid assumptions about people based on how they look all day long and all you can do is recognize that it’s foolish.
August 2, 2008 at 6:15 pm
I think it’s polite to say “darn” and “shoot” when someone’s granny is in the room.
I don’t think it’s the same thing. You could say “darn” or “shoot”, but you wouldn’t email granny with “Your sister was a total c***t at Christmas.”
August 3, 2008 at 1:28 am
Ed Marshall:
Also, it’s not racist to belittle the Inuits and Bangladeshis who are affected by global warming. It’s only racist if one actively hates them. Yeah…
And speaking of global warming: Please sign this petition to urge global warming denialists to sue Gore and Hansen!
– bi
August 3, 2008 at 11:52 am
some would argue that anyone who takes part in a system run by a white power structure that utilizes its inherent advantage at every opportunity is in fact a racist but that would be impolite, especially around granny…
August 3, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Bonus bragging points for being more than one of the above selections. – Vachon
As I always say — we shoulda gotten this all out of the way by electing Nell Carter (z”l) whilst she was still alive.
August 3, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Gimme a break.
August 3, 2008 at 10:45 pm
August 4, 2008 at 7:11 am
jake fate:
I don’t mean to be fucking prudish or overly sensitive. There’s just something about that word that has a tough time escaping my lips – and keyboard apparently.
True story: some of my black friends find it funny when I can’t say “nigger” (there, I typed it out, happy?). It’s like a group therapy session with them encouraging me to say “nigger” instead of “n-word” or some similar bullshit designation. Probably good comedy if someone was surreptitiously filming it.
I should probably get over it, I know. It’s just that word. I guess I would just as soon err on the side of being an overly cautious tool rather than offending someone.
August 4, 2008 at 6:34 pm
curv3ball, I question your numbers….
The Exalted Cyclops Robert Byrd is still alive though. I guess ameriKKKa is still 99.99999999% racist…. Up until Strom Thurmond died we were 99.99999997% racist…
August 4, 2008 at 7:26 pm
There’s just something about that word that has a tough time escaping my lips – and keyboard apparently.
I very, very, rarely say it and only in an implicitly anti-racist context but..
I was at a party when I was about 25 and this little white kid wearing Gangster Disciples colors grabbed my girlfriends ass. Because he was a little white punk when I strode over and grabbed him by the shirt color and drew my hand back it didn’t register that the four really, really, big black Gangster Disciples standing next to him were his friends.
I never laid a hand on the guy, I saw stars for awhile, then I’d black out, then the stars would be back, and this went on for what seemed to me to be roughly half a century but turned out to be about seven minutes of having my head beat in.
When I finally come out completely, somebody is holding rags on the worst cuts and what jumps out of my mouth is “I’m gonna kill those fucking niggers”. Zero irony. Just white-hot pissed. Then I realize the guy doing the rags is my friend and he’s black. Before I can even say “I’m an idiot.” He starts laughing. He sees the look on my face and he’s laughing harder and he says “That’s exactly what I would have said”. I still feel like an asshole and he says “Well, that just goes to show you can’t take niggers anywhere”. It was like 10% ironic, and the delivery wasn’t “nigga” it was “nigger”.
This stuff is not that far down in the subconscious of anyone in this country and I mean anyone and not just white people.
August 4, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Yes, doofus, and Michael Moore is still fat.
And Katrina was All Bill Clinton’s Fault (“ABC-F”) because, failing to anticipate that his “successor” would be a corrupt, imbecilic oligarch, Teh Clenis failed to implement the appropriate safeguards to prevent destruction of the FEMA etc. by some Chimp and his puppeteer.
August 5, 2008 at 1:45 am
Remember that PSA with Timmy and Grandpa fishing out in yonder creek?
Timmy: Bobby said I’m a bigot. What does that mean?
GP: Who is Bobby?
T: Bobby is my black friend.
GP: Maybe if Bobby was your friend and not your black friend you wouldn’t such a little fucking Hitler. Now swim to shore.
This was powerful.
August 5, 2008 at 8:19 am
In my opinion, it’s better to recognize this fact, and be somewhat forgiving of people when their subterranean racism surfaces. This at least allows the poison to flow, and cleanses their blood somewhat. It also keeps people on their toes a tad more.
August 5, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Jack Fate: because it shows about as much self-preservation instinct as grabbing a little Gangster Disciple when there are four big Gangster Disciples standing right there? It is Not Smart to use that word in any context whatsoever.
August 5, 2008 at 3:05 pm
[...] Posted by curv3ball under Uncategorized Toby Keith is not a racist, as there are no racists left in America. Ergo, this is not in the least bit racist: Keith has trained his sights on Barack Obama, [...]
August 5, 2008 at 4:07 pm
i think what kirsanow is getting his panties in a twist about is that he believes obama’s saying that some folks are intrinsically racist — as in: they’re born that way and there’s nothing they can do about it.
am i reading his words incorrectly? did you read something else that makes you feel differently? i mean, i can understand being pissed about that. agree with athiest @32 that denying racism is more harmful than admitting it, but i don’t think it’s ever an intrinsic quality in a person and would be angry if i believed he said it.
the question of whether or not obama actually said (or meant) this is another question, altogether, and likely easily answered with a few transcripts, but my guess is that he said (and meant) no such thing… anyone got a transcript handy?
August 6, 2008 at 5:13 am
I don’t think it matters what Obama said. It matters what conservatives think he said, because it shows so much about Obama that they believe he said it.
August 6, 2008 at 7:00 am
he believes obama’s saying that some folks are intrinsically racist — as in: they’re born that way and there’s nothing they can do about it. – arjuna
In my experience while nobody may be born a racist, some people have various mental issues that cause them to soak up racist attitudes.
August 6, 2008 at 8:01 am
i think what kirsanow is getting his panties in a twist about is that he believes obama’s saying that some folks are intrinsically racist — as in: they’re born that way and there’s nothing they can do about it.
I did take note of “intrinsically” in Kirsanow’s statement, but took it as little more than a weasel word that Kirsanow can brandish as necessary.
There is nothing in anything that Obama has said on this subject that would even imply that people are “born racist” (genetically?) and that it is an intrinsic part of their character incapable of being expunged.
That, or Kirsanow was just being sloppy and was using “intrinsic” to mean, basically, that Obama is suggesting that some people are racist in their basic outlook.
August 8, 2008 at 1:06 pm
hoosier @36 — i hear ya’. and the conspiracy theorist in me says that kirsanow doesn’t actually believe obama said any such thing. but kirsanow wants his regular readers to think that obama did say that. the conspiracy theorist in me says that kirsanow is a willing cog in the republican propaganda machine, dutifully turning round and round to show what time it is. i wonder how many times we’ll end up seeing this meme…
November 7, 2008 at 9:25 am
[...] by the Campfire Posted by curv3ball under Uncategorized Racism in America? Still doesn’t exist anymore. Still ended circa 1968. This must be is the product of a big misunderstanding: A family who [...]